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Live Journals, fanfic recs...somewhat ranty
First off thanks to all those who be-friended me so quickly. (Hope I don't give you reason to regret it. ;-)) Still somewhat new to this whole livejournal thing. It boggles my mind how one can write about anything under the sun - post it on the internet and instantly get responses. Incredibly addictive to a frustrated writer in need of validation. Also seems a tad dangerous - you might reveal too much or get yourself in trouble...like today whilst scanning the boards, I was overcome with the oddest desire to rant about Andrew on BTVS.
I have no idea why I dislike this character so much. Or why everyone else seems to adore him. What motivated this latest attack of anti-Andrew sentiment? A thread on the Angel Soul's Spoiler Board about what BTVS characters you want to see guest on Angel season 5. And some nit mentioned Andrew. Now what pray tell would Andrew do on ATS?
There wasn't much he could do on BTVS. Ugh. Please god give Tom Lenk a great movie career so I can avoid seeing him on my favorite cult tv shows.
(okay rant over).
Been a frustrating day. Feeling icky. And been struggling to figure out how to work this new live journal toy. (That is in between applying for and looking for jobs...must find job!! Which is a whole other journal entry that I may write and keep private to protect the innocent.)
1. How does one find and insert icons?
2. How do you download software to work livejournal from your harddrive? (I downloaded sema and couldn't get it to work).
I'm still a bit backward on the computer stuff I'm afraid.
Finally finished the WIP Summer Son, which reminds me a bit of the Snow Queen fairy tale...without the metaphors. The problem? It's a WIP (Work in Progress) which means I'll have to wait until the writer decides to update before I find out what happens. Very annoying. Especially since it's a mystery and I can't figure out where the writer is going. Almost tempted to write fanfic on the fanfic -wait, has that been done? Probably. Apparently everything has been done when it comes to fanfic. You would not believe the things and ships I've seen in fanfic. I swear people have found ways to put every character on the television together in some capacity. This leads me to believe I'm not the only one with way too much time on my hands.
Oh, while I'm on the subject, fanfiction that I enjoy in case any one is remotely interested.
1. The fanfic has to deal with a character I'm obsessed with. If I'm not obsessed with the character? Not going to read it. With a few exceptions.
2. Normally don't care that much one way or another about canon. I tend to be fairly laid back on this topic. Why? Because I've become convinced that the writers of the TV shows are fairly laid back on it.
Half the time it seems the fans know more about the universal canon than the writers. Just a hunch. The other reason? I figure it's fanfic, it's going to vary to some degree. On the other hand - there are degrees of variance that I won't put up with. If the character is completely out of character to the extent they aren't recognizable? Won't read. Also,
really hate Childe/Sire fic or CrossOver with other
tv shows and movies fic. Doesn't work for me.
The shows have never used the word "childe" so it annoys me to no end when fic does. Sire, okay. Childe? ewww. Flexible but I have my limits.
3. Characters shouldn't become Mary or Marty Stus, or worse just complete caricatures to the extent they are unbelievable. I've read fics where all Spike does is cry. All Xander does is hurt people.
All Buffy does is hit people. It gets old. Don't generally like fic that bashes characters - although I understand the need for it.
4. Not overly fond of fluff. I like dark and angsty fic, with a hint of comedy. Fluffy stuff, doesn't work for me.
5. Want a plot and want it to come from the characters. Not interested in it just being about the sex. Lots of fic is all about how many different ways two characters can have sex...some of which are anatomically impossible.
Mostly it's the writing that pulls me in. If you can write well and convincingly - I'll forgive you just about anything. The best part? It's free and I can read it in the safety of my own home and no one needs to know about it but me. Not like going into a book store and buying a book or going to a library and checking one out...this is so much more private in a way. I was going to list my favorites, but I decided I like keeping that private, my guilty little secret.
Two that I will reveal or have already revealed as worth reading:
Dead Soul's Sunday Girl
Irikios' Chain
Both Spike centric - both show Spike as a conflicted
ambiguous character, not fluffy, and both stay well within the boundaries of the universe. Pretty close to canon with a few changes.
That's it for now. Still feeling icky. Have decided I prefer Zevon to Stevie Nicks right now. Interesting. Considering I own the Stevie Nicks CD and the Zevon is just on loan.
If anyone has any advice at all on how to get an icon and how to get the livejournal download to work? Let me know. Thanks!
I have no idea why I dislike this character so much. Or why everyone else seems to adore him. What motivated this latest attack of anti-Andrew sentiment? A thread on the Angel Soul's Spoiler Board about what BTVS characters you want to see guest on Angel season 5. And some nit mentioned Andrew. Now what pray tell would Andrew do on ATS?
There wasn't much he could do on BTVS. Ugh. Please god give Tom Lenk a great movie career so I can avoid seeing him on my favorite cult tv shows.
(okay rant over).
Been a frustrating day. Feeling icky. And been struggling to figure out how to work this new live journal toy. (That is in between applying for and looking for jobs...must find job!! Which is a whole other journal entry that I may write and keep private to protect the innocent.)
1. How does one find and insert icons?
2. How do you download software to work livejournal from your harddrive? (I downloaded sema and couldn't get it to work).
I'm still a bit backward on the computer stuff I'm afraid.
Finally finished the WIP Summer Son, which reminds me a bit of the Snow Queen fairy tale...without the metaphors. The problem? It's a WIP (Work in Progress) which means I'll have to wait until the writer decides to update before I find out what happens. Very annoying. Especially since it's a mystery and I can't figure out where the writer is going. Almost tempted to write fanfic on the fanfic -wait, has that been done? Probably. Apparently everything has been done when it comes to fanfic. You would not believe the things and ships I've seen in fanfic. I swear people have found ways to put every character on the television together in some capacity. This leads me to believe I'm not the only one with way too much time on my hands.
Oh, while I'm on the subject, fanfiction that I enjoy in case any one is remotely interested.
1. The fanfic has to deal with a character I'm obsessed with. If I'm not obsessed with the character? Not going to read it. With a few exceptions.
2. Normally don't care that much one way or another about canon. I tend to be fairly laid back on this topic. Why? Because I've become convinced that the writers of the TV shows are fairly laid back on it.
Half the time it seems the fans know more about the universal canon than the writers. Just a hunch. The other reason? I figure it's fanfic, it's going to vary to some degree. On the other hand - there are degrees of variance that I won't put up with. If the character is completely out of character to the extent they aren't recognizable? Won't read. Also,
really hate Childe/Sire fic or CrossOver with other
tv shows and movies fic. Doesn't work for me.
The shows have never used the word "childe" so it annoys me to no end when fic does. Sire, okay. Childe? ewww. Flexible but I have my limits.
3. Characters shouldn't become Mary or Marty Stus, or worse just complete caricatures to the extent they are unbelievable. I've read fics where all Spike does is cry. All Xander does is hurt people.
All Buffy does is hit people. It gets old. Don't generally like fic that bashes characters - although I understand the need for it.
4. Not overly fond of fluff. I like dark and angsty fic, with a hint of comedy. Fluffy stuff, doesn't work for me.
5. Want a plot and want it to come from the characters. Not interested in it just being about the sex. Lots of fic is all about how many different ways two characters can have sex...some of which are anatomically impossible.
Mostly it's the writing that pulls me in. If you can write well and convincingly - I'll forgive you just about anything. The best part? It's free and I can read it in the safety of my own home and no one needs to know about it but me. Not like going into a book store and buying a book or going to a library and checking one out...this is so much more private in a way. I was going to list my favorites, but I decided I like keeping that private, my guilty little secret.
Two that I will reveal or have already revealed as worth reading:
Dead Soul's Sunday Girl
Irikios' Chain
Both Spike centric - both show Spike as a conflicted
ambiguous character, not fluffy, and both stay well within the boundaries of the universe. Pretty close to canon with a few changes.
That's it for now. Still feeling icky. Have decided I prefer Zevon to Stevie Nicks right now. Interesting. Considering I own the Stevie Nicks CD and the Zevon is just on loan.
If anyone has any advice at all on how to get an icon and how to get the livejournal download to work? Let me know. Thanks!
The pluses and minuses of LJ
The good thing is, you can delete their posts, or specify that a particular journal entry not allow comments at all.
That said, I agree with your sentiments on Andrew. He sucked up a lot of time on the season 7 screen that could have gone to other characters. But then, I have the exact sentiments about Spike, so....
Delete this post if you want!
Re: The pluses and minuses of LJ
Oh - there's a campaign to get JM as lead of a Harry Dresden Series...means no more Spike, but more JM. ;-)
Heh.
Thanks regarding the Live Journal rules.
So new to this.
Re: The pluses and minuses of LJ
It's pretty cool.
no subject
I've been reading BtVS centered fan fic for roughly 2 years now. It's not my first foray into fan fic for a show. The first was for The Pretender. I read it mainly for the "scenes that you didn't get to see" type of stories. I wish that the writers on that story had spent a little more time on characters and motivations. It's almost the same reason that I began reading BtVS centered fic. Now it's branched out into all sorts of areas.
The main criteria (but not the only) that I have is that it have good grammar and spelling. And I'm not talking about precise spelling just the really annoying things like spelling "passed" as "past". Other than that I like all sorts: fluff, angst, mystery, pwp, slash, AU or not. I have a tendency to fall into the long series. I mostly stumble across these stories.
Sometimes I read the things specifically recommended by a couple of sites that I trawl through. That's how I found one particularly well written, totally angsty AU, skyz's The Fall of William. I almost didn't want ot finish it, it was that good. I loved how messed up these "people" were and how f***ed up some of the situations were. It's not perfection. It took Xander somewhere that didn't feel completely true to me.
Until the Fanged Four Fic, I'd never really written any fan fic. Just forgettable little scenes in my head. I, too also have a little problem with the Sire/Childe thing. It sounds so...strange or something. It just doesn't fit. I tried to write it into something I was toying with and it sounded so forced.
As for obtaing an icon, I think that there a couple of journals out there specifically dedicated to having icons tha you can use. I don't have it at my fingertips just now but I believe that if you check out
Well, here's to rambles and rants galore!
Where's Fall of William located?
Sort of in mood for agnsty William/Spike fic.
I'd agree about main criteria being good grammar
and spelling. Not perfect. But clear. One fic I read almost drove me nuts - the writer just could not handle using Buffy said or she said. So instead she would use: the blonde, the slayer,
the girl, or the red head, or the blond vampire. I started substituting he and she and the character names for the writer after a while. The reason for grammar is clarity. As one of my writing teachers informed me ages ago - grammar provides the reader with a road map or guide posts so they can follow your story.
Since I'm not perfect - particularly when I don't get the chance to fully proof-read, I tend to forgive a lot. So nit-picky things like it's and its or typos, don't bug me. It's more glaring errors like passed as opposed to past or using "the blonde" as opposed to Buffy said, that annoys me.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Re: Where's Fall of William located?
And about the thing where writers feel like they say the characters names too often, it totally annoys me to no end when it's constantly "the petite blonde", "the redhead" "the brunnette" and so on. It makes me want to write to the writer and tell them "they have names, for crying out loud!" Urg. And, I have found, there is such a thing as being too descriptive. I once read one chapter of a story and subsequently started to figure how much of it was completely unneccessary. Needless to say I didn't read it any farther than that. Oops, didn't mean to be all ranty.
Re: Where's Fall of William located?
I don't mind the vampire=murderer thing too much. Depends on how it's written, I guess. If that makes sense. My past experience in criminal defense has ruined lots of cop/criminal defense stories for me. They just ring false somehow. That said, I'll forgive a good writer just about anything - if they can show me a new side of a character.
Completely with your rant! No apologies needed. I wonder if Honor H has written a chapter on these tendencies in her OBAFU story yet? I don't remember it, but it's possible I missed one. For some reason writers fear over-using the word said or he said or she said or even the characters names. I learned long ago - don't fear over-doing this. It's far less distracting to the reader.
OK, teeny tiny summary it is!
Like I said, good angsty reading. And did I mention it's a complete story? All the better I say. I hate (gotta stop using that word so much) WIP's but it's better than reading dreck, I guess. Which is probably why I have a zip disk half filled with WIP's. I wait until a story is completed or close to completion before I start reading it. Absolutely crazy, I know. Not too many people know that about me. hee. If you have any fic recommendations let me know and I'll do the same.
Thanks!
The fic I've read lately is unfortunately all WIP.
Half Gifts by Automated Alice (can't remember url but if you look under Half Gifts in google you can find it.) It takes place right after Grave, goes AU. Spike has ended up in England living at Giles with Willow. The story starts with Buffy's visit to him in England and they work out their issues. It also has a good plot outside of B/S - dealing with what is happening in Sunnydale, the Watcher Council etc. I've met Alice. Good writer. Angsty. Likes dark stuff, especially David Lynch.
Summer Son - http://www.naturalblues.org/redrover1980fic/
Weird fic in progress. Automated Alice recommended it. Young writer.
Lots of problems. But the writing is oddly compelling. Everyone's human. Action takes place in 1950s and 1980s. Very angsty and dark.
And I may go torment her if she doesn't complete it!
Chain by irikios on allaboutspike.com - best AU Season 6 I've seen.
This one wonders what would have happened if Warren and the Troika took Spike after he got beat up in Dead Things and manipulated his chip so that he became their slave. (Something ME hinted at doing in Season 6 but never did). It gets really dark. Spike is tortured pretty brutally by Warren. But outside of the Spike bits, it follows Season 6 pretty closely. Also does a good job of exploring Spike's internal conflict regarding good over evil sans soul. Another one, I've considered berating for leaving their work unfinished!
Non-WIP's:
If you like slash - Subtleties by eliade is really good. If you can't find it, let me know, I have it saved on my hard drive. Xander comes into a windfall of money and is sent to locate Spike (souled Spike) in NY, where he's gone in a funk. It's five years in the future. AU fic. Since Spike and Anya never died. Lots of sex. But the characters and relationship are developed in an interesting way.
Angsty.
There's a hilarous short fic by Mikelesq called The Metaphor Suffers,
found here: http://www.allaboutspike.com/fic.html?id=590
I won't give a summary since it's only a page fic and it would ruin the joke.
Herself's Disenchantment isn't bad. Some nice parts here and there.
Basically takes place ten years in the future. Buffy finds a human Spike, sans memory, on an island in the Pacific. Lots of sexual hijinks ensue. I prefer Gwyn's Heliotrope which can be found on allaboutspike - which seems to build on the relationships a bit more. And then there's the after Grave fic - Wisteria's Traffic Conditions is very angsty, Herself's What She Deserves (Buffy finds Spike with a soul in NY), 98 Octane by Wisteria, and the 10,000 miles
to Sunnydale fic by Wisteria. All dark. All angsty.
Agree - WIP is better than reading dreck. I've been reading way too much Spike fic. LOL! Something not many people know about me...;-)
Welcome Shadowkat!
no subject
Not sure about the client download... I use Semagic and so far it's been pretty good to me.
How do you get Sema to work??
Re: How do you get Sema to work??
And not quite sure how to design the journal around it? I think mostly it's just so you can make posts from your computer instead of from the LJ website, but if you want to rehaul your journal site design, you'll probably have to play with the new S2 style or diddle around with that type of thing...
Thank you!
Thank you. Let me know if it's a problem.
The playing with icon thing to express mood is sort of fun. ;-)
Re: Thank you!
More here and here if you like Eowyn... I made a giant bunch of them because I love her.
And in case I never said... welcome to LJ! ^_^ Glad to see someone whose posts I read so much at Atpo here! (really, I'm not a stalker... but it can be hard finding good pro-Spike essay writer people)
Re: Thank you!
This is the real thing. Honest.